What are R&D tax credits?

Introduced by the UK Government in 2000, R&D Tax Credits are designed to encourage innovation by allowing businesses to reclaim some of the money they have spent on developing new – or improving existing – products, services and process.

A lot of people think that “real R&D” is carried out in laboratories by people in white coats but that is not the case. Qualifying costs are comprehensive and approximately 97% of our workshops result in a successful claim. So whether you’re overcoming specific ground conditions, adapting equipment, creating new processes or developing better, safer, or greener methods of construction, you are almost certainly undertaking R&D.

Construction companies are missing out

Every day on projects and in businesses up and down the country, innovative solutions are devised to overcome process, technical, logistical, method-related or safety challenges. Despite this, only 480 construction companies – out of a total of 290,000 – made a claim via the Government’s R&D Tax Credit scheme in 2014-15.

Of the businesses that are claiming, many of them aren’t claiming enough. That’s because accountants frequently miss a significant proportion of the overall qualifying cost. Our team is made up of engineers, architects and surveyors who understand construction and ensure you get 100% of what you are owed.

The opportunity for construction

Even if innovation accounted for just 1% of UK construction’s turnover – and our work with clients has shown it is typically several times this – then, for an industry worth more than £145 billion per year, there is potentially over £1 billion in R&D Tax Credit claims that could be made by the construction industry every year.

Yet over the last three years R&D Tax Credit claims from the construction industry have averaged just £23 million per year. This represents a missed opportunity for the industry to take advantage of this important incentive funding to reinvest and improve productivity in the sector.